Hunter Legacy 11: Home Is Where the Hero Is (23 page)

"Who are you and what have you done
with my Jon?"

It took me a moment for what she said to register.

"What?"

"You're not here. You haven't been
since talking to the Keeper. It's like the Keeper took you and left a suited
security droid in your place."

"That’s ridiculous."

"Is it?"

"You can't fuck a security
droid."

"Wanna bet?" said Jane through my
PC.

"What was that look?"

"Jane said did I want to bet on
it."

"She'd know. You keep disappearing. I
want to know where you go."

"It's not so much where, as when."

"When? Are you still hung up on your
life being an open book?"

"How can you joke about it? My life
was entertainment six hundred years ago."

"Maybe so, but I think you're missing
the whole point."

"And that would be?"

"Where would we be if the books hadn't
been written?"

"I don’t follow you."

"Jon, this isn’t rocket science. A
detailed prophecy was made. We can presume a lot of people read it. Enough people
believed it. It was carried forward through time against all the odds. A few
people received what they needed to make sure you and I would be sitting here
right now having this conversation."

"Huh? You and me now?"

"Jon. Keep up. This conversation is
the end result of a legacy which began six hundred years ago, with the
channeling of your life story over this last year. But it's also just the
beginning. From here, we fight the Darkness, and try to find a way where
humanity survives. Without those novels, we wouldn’t have met because without
the Keeper, your parents would never have let you leave Gaia two full Gaia
years early. If you never left Gaia, we'd all have died on the first page of
that first book."

There was something funny about that. The
book ending on the first page, because none of it actually happened. I kept my
expression serious.

"This last year wouldn’t have
happened. Sometime in the next several years, the Darkness sweeps up the spine.
Everyone we know and love dies because there is no coordinated defense, no
commander committed to saving humanity rather than isolated groups of people
who can't be saved. And at the last, your Door opens, the Darkness pours
through, and Galactica is the first to fall. If you weren't already dead, you
are now without firing a shot, and a short time later the last human is dead.
And that’s the best guess scenario."

"Best? What's the worst?"

"Galactica never made it out here. The
Australian sector was never found, and Gaia was just a dead dream of people who
never stood a chance of finding a new home. When the Darkness came, humanity
had nowhere to go."

"Have you been talking to
Thirteen?"

"Yes. Amanda and Aleesha had it out
with him after he revealed he'd been with us the whole year. A lot of the
miracles we wondered about were his doing. Apparently he was the pilot who died
when Moose was destroyed, although he was using a different body at the time.
Like it or not, higher being or not, he's one of us now. He lived the last year
with us, he showered with us on the way to Pompeii, and that makes him team.
He's saved all of us, you most of all. The one thing he doesn’t know how to
deal with is what's going on with you now."

"What is going on with me now?"

"You seem to be in crisis mode, and
it's not about your life being entertainment."

"It's not?"

"No. Want to tell me what's really
bothering you?"

I sighed. I guess this is what a
relationship was really about. Holding the mirror up to you because they love
you.

"I don’t know where home is."

"Why does it matter?"

"I'm not sure. But it does."

"Okay. If this was one of your old
flat screens, how would the hero's girlfriend put it?"

"Holy hell."

"I doubt that."

I almost chuckled.

"I don’t think she would
understand."

"I don’t understand. Explain it to
me."

"I'm not sure I can."

"Try."

"My family left Earth nearly six
hundred years ago. They left their home and everyone they knew, and undertook a
one way journey into the future. Eventually they found the Australian sector
planets, and Gaia, but even then, my family never put down roots on any of the
planets. They stayed in space. On a ship. It was a ship, not a home. We lived
there. It moved around. There was no sun, the air was cleaned and re-cleaned,
the water recycled, the food mostly processed. No roots. I was born in space,
and except for a few visits, I've no real experience of living on a
planet."

"And why is that bad?"

"I feel no connection to most of
humanity. And I'm supposed to be their savior? How do I do that when I have no
connection?"

"Jon…"

She rose, stepped around the table, and
hugged me. I hugged her back, and people began to stare. Eventually she let me
go, and resumed her seat.

"Listen to me, Jonathon Hunter. You
evolved in space. You live in space. You fight in space. The Darkness will
cross space. You are what you are because the battles which will matter the
most are in space. Humanity not only needs a hero, it needs one evolved for
space. It's you. Space is your home. You'd never feel comfortable anywhere
else. Accept it. Love it. Live it."

"Who are you, and what have you done
with Aline?"

We both chuckled.

"Seriously Jon, the only reason your
life being a novel bothers you is because you're one of the few people who
associates with the entertainment of more than half a millennia ago. It was so
long ago, it makes no difference to the here and now. If the books were
actually available to read now it would be different, but they haven't been in
over five hundred years. Get a grip on reality. For right now, this station is
your home. When we start down the spine, BigMother will be your home. Or
Redoubt will be, or perhaps even Gunbus. It doesn’t matter. A lot of
philosophers have spent far more time than you have on where home is. Some said
it's where you hang your hat. Others said it's where you put your boots at
night. I say home is where the hero is. Home is where you are."

I opened my mouth. She reached across the
table and closed it.

"Let's not argue about the hero thing.
Being humble is one of your endearing traits. But we don’t need humble for the
next year. We need a leader. We need you at the top of your game."

Her voice changed into the drill sergeant.

"So get rid of this angst ridden
security droid using a suit, and get the real Jon Hunter back in play. If I
don’t see him first thing in the morning, I'm going to kick this pathetic suit
version the whole way around this station until the suit shreds. Do you hear me
soldier!"

"Sir, yes sir."

I think we both became aware of people clapping
her from all around the room at the same moment. Aline blushed. I grinned at her.

She reached over and took my hand.

"I love you," she said.

"I know."

I turned up for training the next morning.
BA ran me through the courses relentlessly. I'd been ignoring this since we
arrived in Gaia, and my body had been getting soft again. I knew I'd face the
Darkness in space, but I also knew I'd face it at least once on the ground. Not
being in top physical condition then would probably be fatal. And I was acutely
aware, now, of my mental condition sliding with my body condition. Gaia had
been a set of shocks I hadn't needed. But they'd happened, and like Aline had
said, I needed to move on. Getting back into physical condition should help my
mental condition.

I ate breakfast with the team. Everyone
except George was there. It seemed like forever since we'd last been together
as a group, at least socially. My birthday party didn't count. I invited
everyone for a buffet dinner at my place that evening. Just the team, Mum, and
Angel.

Breakfast over, I was starting back to
collect Angel, when Thirteen appeared beside me.

"You'll want to be here for
this."

"Which this is that?"

He didn’t answer, but led me toward
Unassailable's dock. Jane fell in beside us along the way. We arrived at the
dock next door to the Battleship, just as the airlock opened, and a dozen
people walked out. They looked around vaguely, as if having no idea where they
were. The one in front saw us, and stepped our way.

"We're looking for someone named
Hunter," she said.

"That would be me."

"Ah good. Please arrange for our gear
to be taken to our hotel, and someone show us where the crystals are."

"And you are?"

"Didn’t anyone tell you?"

"Apparently not."

"I knew it," said an older man
behind her. "Whole thing was a crock of shit, and we spent all that time
on that apology of a cruise ship getting here for nothing."

Jane was trying hard not to laugh.

"Excuse me, but what are you here
for?"

"Its top secret boy. Tell your boss
the crystal specialists are here."

"I am the boss."

They all looked at me as if I'd said I was
a frog. They looked at Jane. She nodded. They looked at Thirteen. He nodded.
They looked back at me.

"Hmmm," said the leader. "We
were headhunted from all over the arm, to come here and work on some sort of
energy from crystals project."

"So you all retain your knowledge of
Atlantean times?"

Grins broke out among them.

"Yes," she said. "Do
you?"

"I have some of them, but only enough
information to turn the crystals on or off."

"Please," she said reverently.
"How many are there?"

"Four, but only one is available to be
worked with."

"Four," said another voice from
the back. "Beyond our wildest dreams."

"Take us there," said the leader.

I waved towards the dock next door. As we
walked, I gave Jane instructions.

"Have suites set up for these people on
board."

"Suites?" said the older man.
"Did I hear you say suites?"

"You did. Please don’t
interrupt."

"Sorry," he mumbled, sounding
quite happy now.

"Have Jeeves assign them some
Butlers," I said to Jane, "and make sure they're escorted if they
leave the ship for any reason. Give them everything they need, within
reason."

"Confirmed."

Jane had the airlock open as we arrived
there, and I headed straight up the ramp. Everyone followed me, and waited
there for a trolley. A short time later, we arrived at the crystal.

"It's real," said one of them.

The rest stood there with their mouths
open.

"Can you get it to work?" I
asked.

"We'll die trying," said the
leader, in a voice which resembled being as high as a kite. Maybe she was.

"Thirteen, a word please."

I stalked off a way, out of earshot.

"Well?" I asked him.

"I told One what we needed. She went
back a year, added manpower to her organization, and they set about finding
these people without knowing why. They were all fully vetted, and only these
twelve were selected. They are all as spiritual as you are, have memories of
Atlantean times, and they all do incredible things with crystals."

"Don’t show them the other ones.
They'll likely try to steal them."

He chuckled.

"By all means chuckle," I went
on. "These people are your responsibility. What they are doing is the
biggest secret we have. Do what you must to ensure it's kept. Get them what
they need. If they go on-station, keep them quiet about their employment, and
don’t let them get into trouble."

"What do I do in my spare time?"

I shook my head at him, and started walking
away. Jane caught up with me on the trolley, and took me back to my suite. As
we left the ship, I saw the airlock now had combat droids guarding it. The
airlock closed behind us.

I collected Angel, and Gunbus left for the
shipyard once again. Timing wasn't so critical this time, so arriving after
lunch wasn’t a big deal.

The first completed Dreadnaught slid out of
its bay just as we arrived. I'd seen it before, on the way to the Gaia jump
point, Bob having paraded it in front of everyone. But it hadn't been complete,
little more than a hull full of stuff needing ripping out.

It looked the same as Defiant, only twice
as large, and much more bad-arse. It only had a single hanger, the other one
being used for more important things than docking small ships. The hanger it
did have was still large enough for Gunbus, and it already had several shuttle
sized ships in there. I assumed one of them was an Admiral's Gig.

Jane docked us, and I carried Angel to the
access shaft. She launched herself up out of my arms, and I followed her up.
Jane shoved us both out, gently, onto the CCC Deck. This was the deck above the
Cargo Deck on the top hull, which was itself down the middle of the ship. I
poked my nose in various doors on my way to the CCC, which was almost in the
center of the top section. All the accommodation and crew feeding and
entertainment rooms were here. The CCC looked like all the rest, and most of
the Bridges. I stayed there long enough to ensure everything worked, and then
headed up to the Bridge itself. Angel trotted after me, jumped into the shaft
herself, and let Jane push her up. I followed after, and again, Jane pushed us
out on the only other deck with life support. This deck was all work related, and
the Bridge was almost identical to BigMother's, only it had an Admiral's Ready
Room as well as the Captain's. Conference Room and a small Mess were off the
other side.

The ship only had six habitable decks, four
of which were for cargo. Each Cargo Deck had the standard airlock, so the ship
could dock at any of the four. If each deck was being filled, the ship only had
to undock, spin ninety degrees, and re-dock, to use a different deck. Down the
track, this would be important. As well as fighting, we would need to be
carrying supplies for ships leaving so fast they didn’t take enough.

There were no marine facilities on this
ship. Just enough accommodation for a crew. The ship was designed for one
thing. Slugfesting.

Angel vaulted up onto the console, and
nothing happened this time. I accessed the control systems, and found the
console hadn't been activated. Maybe Angel's firing of guns previously had
spooked Bob, or someone in his team. I chuckled my way through system testing.
Everything checked out.

"You there old son?"

Bob had popped up on a side screen, and
could see us perfectly well.

"Where else would I be?"

"On a beach with naked girls?"

"Don’t tempt me."

He laughed. The expected rejoinder which
contained the word 'missus', didn’t come.

"Is she what you wanted?"

"Looks like it. I'll give her a good
test on the way back. For now, I'll do all the flight testing on the way to the
jump point, then see what time I have for fun on the other side."

"Enjoy. Did you decide on a
name?"

"I did. Relentless."

"Good choice. Give me a minute or two
to get it registered."

The other option was Dauntless. But I
thought Relentless was a better match for my mood at the moment, or at least,
the one I was cultivating. A second ship of this class was still under
construction at the Treasure Chest Shipyard, so it could be named Dauntless.

I spent the time making sure the HUD was
set up the way I liked it, and testing controls. The basic ones for getting
around seemed to be fine.

"All done," said Bob, while I was
still working my way through menus. "You're good to go."

"I'll be back," I said in a deep
voice, and slid the thrust slider forward to the stops.

I would be too. Once the Explorer ships
came out of their bays. For now though, the first wave of ship upgrades was
complete. Some Destroyers were still in the works, but I’d probably send Lacey
to take delivery of them. Hopefully give him a taste for larger ships.

Bob grinned at me, and the popup de-popped.

Relentless picked up speed almost as fast
as the fully docked BigMother did. This wasn’t surprising considering there
were three Battleship engines back there. The third one was in the center
rectangle, and all three were being oversupplied by nearly four Battleship's
worth of power generators. The rectangle at the middle of the ship had no other
purpose than to feed power to engines and shields. The result was almost up to
what BigMother could make, with Unassailable and four Guardians docked to her.

The up side was the five hour trip to the
shipyard in Gunbus was about a three hour trip back. It left me a couple of
hours before my dinner party.

By the time we reached the jump point, I’d
thrown the ship around like a drunk idiot, and even flipped it end to end a
couple of times. I'd never had the chance to do this with BigMother, and the
thrill of doing it now made me feel powerful and invincible. Definitely a don’t
do this at home moment. This ship was huge, and dogfighting it like a fighter
couldn’t be done unless you were alone, or didn’t mind everything else bouncing
off your view screens unexpectedly.

Angel sat her spot on the console, grin
firmly in place. I'd never worked out what was so fascinating about space
travel to her, but I was glad to have her with me.

I went through the jump point at full
speed, scaring the hell out of the blockade fighters, and angled down towards
the nearest asteroid field.

"Will we be requiring clean up on isle
one?" asked Jane.

"I hope so."

A ship changed direction on the HUD, and
began coming towards. I checked its info, and it was one of the collector
mining Cruisers. With luck, I could fill it a lot faster than usual, albeit
with a lot higher waste factor. Wasting asteroids wasn’t one of my concerns
though.

I brought Relentless to a stop, just within
range of the Destroyer guns, and broadside on to the field, so all my guns on
three sides could fire at once.

The ship specs popped up on a side screen,
and I checked what I had. Bob had remade the main turrets. The original two
guns per turret, were now three. This gave me nine main guns on each section.
Top and right had two turrets on the front end of the ship, and one at the
rear, while left and bottom had the reverse, one in front and two at the rear.
This allowed eighteen guns to fire forward, while another eighteen fired back,
at the same time, and provided a broadside of twenty seven guns in any given
side direction.

"Jane, choose the biggest roid for a
target. Broadside fire all the main guns at it, and then roll the ship to fire
the other nine as soon as they bare. Then cease fire."

When I had time, I’d need to test how fast
the guns recharged, and see how many rolls were needed before the next firing.
The Cruiser and Destroyer guns could be timed to fire between main gun
broadsides.

"Confirmed. You want some cam drones
out there first to record it?"

"Probably a good idea."

"Launching."

I waited, looking at multiple screens
showing turrets moving into position.

"Firing in ten," said Jane, and I
counted it down in my head.

More screens popped up showing drone feed.
The ship fired, began to roll, and seconds later fired again. A giant area of
the asteroid field simply vanished, replaced mostly by dust. Small chunks of
rock blew away from the target area in almost all directions.

"Meow!"

"You said it sweetie."

Meow indeed.

"Move us to a new test area, and do
the same with the Cruiser guns, and again with the Destroyer guns."

"Confirmed."

Amy popped up.